Spring coiling machine



Aug. 24, 1937. w. H. BLOUNT 2,091,136

SPRING COILNG MACHINE Filed Nov. 4, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ,m I /WFQM w. H. BLOUNT 2,091,136

Aug. 24, 1937.

.SPRING COILING MACHINE Filed Nov. 4, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l 21 i, r1 l 27 Il n Patented ug. 24, 1937 UNITED STATES SPRING COILING MACHINE William H. Blount, West Brookfield, Mass., as-

signor to Sleeper Hartley, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 4, 1935, Serial No. 48,073

Claims. (Cl. 15S-64.5)

'I'his invention relates to the coiling of springs from flat wire and in a dished concave condition. The springs can be used as springs, if desired, but the invention is particularly designed for 5 making helical springs which can be cut along a plane Aso as to separate each coil from the next one and form piston rings or spring washers or the like.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a machine for coiling lengths of at wirein such a way as to cause it to become distorted, that is, concaved or dished so that a single coil will constitute a spring, suitable especially for piston rings; to provide means for l5 guiding the flat wire into a position on an arbor and engage it at such a point that it will assume the inclined or dished condition and when coiled by a series of wheels around the arbor, will retain that shape; and to provide means for changing the amount of distortion of the wire capable of being manipulated in a very simple way.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan of a machine constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the actual course of the wire in the machine; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig'. 1, showing the finishing slide;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 showing one of a series of slides which bend the wire around the arbor; Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of the first named slide on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the second slide taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 7 is a side view of the arbor and the wheel on the first named slide on enlarged scale showing how the Wire is dished or distorted.

'I'he work on which this machine operates is a flat wire In which is fed in as indicated in Fig. 2, by any desired kind of a feed mechanism and guided to the machine by a guide II. This wire is fed in a straight fiat condition on an annular surface I2 of a positively rotated arbor I3 and under a cylindrical projection I4 on the arbor. The arbor is shown as supported by a roller bearing il at one end and a rigid bearing 8 at the other. The surface I2 is not as wide as the wire so that the outer edge 0f the wire projects beyond it. Just before the wire reaches the arbor so as to rest on the surface I2 it passes under a surface I5 on an idle roll I6. The contact of the wire with the roll I6 tends to curve it so that it comes into contact with a similar surface on a roll I1 and thereafter with a corresponding surface on a roll I8. 'I'hese surfaces I5 on these three rolls hold the wire down on the surface I2 and wind it around the arbor as the arbor rotates. Finally it comes into contact with a larger wheel I9 having an enlarged conical portion 20 provided with an under plane surface 2I which comes into contact with the wire, as shown in Fig. 7, and holds it down, as indicated in that gure. 'Ihis is the last shaping operation. The wire then passes around the arbor and is coiled up on it above the cylindrical projection Il.

It will be noticed that the distance between the surface I2 and the bottom of the projection I4 is greater than the thickness of the wirel. thus allowing the pressure of the edge of the surfaces 2I and I5 on the wire I0 to act substantially at the extreme circumference of the surface I2. I have discovered that under these circumstances the outer edge of the wire is turned down into a position, such as shown in Fig. '1. In other words, the wire is coiled around the arbor in a set, dished or concave condition which makes each coil a spring. It is Wound up on the arbor by the continuous operation of the machine in the form of a continuous cylindrical helical coil.

In order to suit the machine for wires of different thicknesses and springs of different degrees of distortion, a series of annular shims 30 are employed. As many of them may be used as may be necessary.

The rolls I6, I'I, I8 and I9 are not positively driven but are driven by the friction of the traveling wire upon their surfaces. The first three rolls are each mounted on a slide, as 22, properly guided, and each is adjustable by a screw 23. These slides are mounted on a base 24 which is a part of the wire ceiling machine. On another guide 25 is located a slide 26- on which the wheel I9 is mounted. The shaft of this wheel is carried by the slide and is adjustable by a screw 21. The slide moves in ways 28.

After the wire is coiled on the arbor to form a helical cylindrical spring the preferred procedure is to cut that spring longitudinally from end to end clear through the wire and thus separate the spring into a plurality of separate coils, each coil being complete. The particular purpose for which this machine is designed is to make piston rin-gs in this way. That is, the kind of wire is selected which is suitable for piston rings, each coil constituting a spring ring. However, spring washers and other articles of a similar nature can be made in the same way.

'Ihe machine is very simple and the process is of such a nature that the Spring will be coiled into its dished shape without the application of any pressure except what has been described and without any second operation after the coil spring is formed.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:-

1. In a wire coiling machine, the combination of a rotary arbor having a ilat annular surface for receiving the wire in flat condition thereon, and having a parallel surface spaced from said surface a distance greater than the thickness of the wire, and means for engaging the wire and pressing on it at a point over the first named surface so as to distort the wire out of its at condition.

2. In a wire coiling machine, the combination with a rotary arbor having a plane annular surface for receiving a ilat wire, said surface being narrower than the width of the wire, and a cylindrical projection spaced from said surface, of means for pressing on the wire at a plurality of points around the arbor along a circle near the outer edge of said surface to bend the inside edge of the wire into contact with the projection and the outer edge of the wire in the opposite direction beyond the edge of said surface.

3. In a wire coiling machine, the combination with a rotary arbor having a plane annular surface for receiving a at wire and a cylindrical projection spaced from said surface a distance greater than the thickness of the wire, of means for pressing on the wire at a plurality of points around the arbor along a circle near the outer edge of said surface to bend the inside edge of the wire into contact with the projection and the outer edge of the Wire in the opposite direction beyond the edge of said surface.

4. In a wire coiling machine for the purpose described, the combination with a rotary arbor having a plane annular surface, a plurality of shims on said surface by which the active surface can be raised or lowered, and a surface spaced above the shims enough to allow the wire to move upwardly against the upper surface, of a at annular surface for pressing on the wire near but inside the circumference of the shims to distort the wire.

5. In a wire coiling machine, the combination of a rotary arbor having a fiat annular surface for receiving the wire in a fiat condition thereon, and having a parallel surface spaced from said surface a distance greater than the thickness of the wire, and a plane annular surface rotatable on another parallel axis for engaging the top of the wire and pressing on it at a point over the rst named surface so as to distort the wire out oi' its at condition.

WILLIAM H. BLOUNT. 

